Fashion Meets Activism As Versace Partners With the Clooneys’ Albie Awards to Champion Justice
The worlds of fashion, philanthropy, and Hollywood came together last night to toast to an equitable future.
In the midst of Fashion Month, Versace partnered with the Clooney Foundation for Justice to host the second annual Albie Awards in New York City. The gala—founded by George and Amal Clooney and named after Justice Albie Sachs, who worked to end apartheid in South Africa—honored those individuals who, with their work, have courageously defended justice above all else.
“We firmly believe that it takes a community of allies to succeed in waging justice to protect human rights,” the Clooneys said. “Versace’s commitment to equality, including its active support for LGBTQ+ rights, inspires us to keep fighting the good fight.”
Prominent figures in human rights, business, entertainment, fashion, and technology united at the New York Public Library on September 28 to show their support to the awardees, and to celebrate Versace’s partnership with the Albies, which will continue for years to come.
“I am truly honoured to be supporting my friends Amal and George Clooney with Versace’s donation to the Albies,” Donatella Versace said. “I am incredibly inspired by the way that Amal and George work so tirelessly to make this world a better place and fight for those that champion justice globally.”
As part of the Versace Foundation’s ongoing commitment to creating a more just future, the iconic brand invited as its guests personalities who are exceptional in their own fields and who have proven themselves champions of equality—among them Anne Hathaway, Alicia Keys, Viola Davis, Cindy Crawford, and Nina Dobrev.
Donatella herself dressed the stars for the fete, and exclusively shared with Harper’s Bazaar the sketches of their glamorous gowns.
Amal Clooney, Julianne Moore, Julianna Margulies, Phoebe Gates, Taylor Zakhar Perez, Jeremy Strong, and other guests also showed out in Atelier Versace. Meanwhile, additional celebrity guests included Scarlett Johansson, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Matt Damon, and Kate Moss.
Hathaway, the face of the Versace Icons campaign, made an entrance at the dinner in a fabulous green-and-silver gown that was actually the final look shown at Versace’s Spring/Summer 2024 fashion show. The metal mesh dress featured a bias checkerboard motif with sparkling crystal and bead embroidery and satin straps with Medusa ’95 hardware. The actor styled the work of art with shiny silver heels adorned with a bow featuring the house’s Medusa logo, and silver jewelry, including a serpent cuff.
Crawford and Davis both looked radiant in bold, colorful gowns. The legendary supermodel’s piece was a silk satin georgette gown in a raspberry hue with a romantic embroidered lace bustier contrasted by Versace’s signature giant silver safety pins all over. The house was also represented in the dress’s purple satin straps, which formed a Versace V at the front and back. The design took members of the atelier over 500 hours to complete, Versace told Bazaar. Crawford wore the gown with strappy silver sandals, a silver box clutch, and big shimmering drop earrings in the same berry shade, for a maximalist look.
Davis’s gown came in a more subtle berry shade—a soft lavender. The off-the-shoulder column dress was inspired by the Versace’s Fall/Winter 1995 collection. It was crafted in breezy silk chiffon georgette and featured a crystal-embellished stripe and a long train on one side. The dress took members of the atelier over 400 hours to complete. The Woman King star wore it with a kaleidoscope-like cuff and silver drop earrings.
While Hathaway, Crawford, and Davis brought the color, Keys and Dobrev brought back the little black dress.
The “If I Ain’t Got You” singer was a vision in a glittering strapless silk-satin gown with a sculpted bustier and a showstopping draped crystal net skirt. It took 400 hours to complete. She wore it with black stockings, pointy black pumps, and silver-and-emerald jewelry.
Dobrev’s custom gown was peak Atelier Versace—sexy and impossibly sophisticated all at once. The piece featured a sculptural corsetlike silk satin bustier over a transparent layer of lace, and an ample skirt made up of multiple layers of lace and tulle. The actor styled the gown elegantly, with only gold hoop earrings and a deep red lip.
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